Calif. quake damages seen topping $100 million

CALEXICO, Calif. 
The magnitude-7.2 earthquake that shook the U.S.-Mexico border last weekend likely caused more than $100 million in damage in California alone, officials said Thursday, with damage estimates in Mexico yet to emerge.

Authorities have not finished tallying the wreckage in California's economically strapped Imperial County, but extensive damage was apparent in water treatment systems, schools, businesses and homes.

U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Chula Vista, said damage in the county likely will exceed $100 million and reported that at least 800 homes were severely damaged.

The most significant damage was to water and sewage systems in the county's two largest cities, El Centro and Calexico, about 120 miles east of San Diego. Offices in the region's main hospital also suffered extensive damage, Filner said.

Three schools in Calexico remained closed and suffered an estimated $15 million in damages, said Louis Fuentes, chairman of the Imperial County board of supervisors. He estimated damages to county government buildings at up to $20 million.

One of Calexico's clay sewer lines ruptured late Wednesday, Fuentes said. At least 100 mobile homes have been knocked off their foundations or toppled.

"We just keep getting reports of more and more things that are being discovered," he said.

The 7.2-magnitude quake struck on Easter Sunday about 38 miles southeast of the border city of Mexicali, Mexico, a bustling commerce center. Two people died in Mexico and dozens of businesses and homes were destroyed in Mexicali. Extensive damage was reported in farming communities on the outskirts of the big city.

Officials have yet to provide an estimate of the total damage done in Mexico.

As damages were being tallied, aftershocks continued to roil the region.

A magnitude-5.3 quake hit Thursday morning, centered near Guadalupe Victoria, a Mexican farming village about 30 miles southeast of Mexicali. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damages on either side of the border.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer was walking down the main street of downtown Calexico when the ground shook, said Calexico Mayor David Ouzan.

"You could feel it and see the windows shaking," said Ouzan.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also toured Calexico on Thursday but left before the big aftershock.

An area of several square blocks in downtown Calexico will remain closed through the weekend, said City Manager Victor Carrillo, who estimated damages to the city alone were $28 million. Plans to reopen downtown on Friday were delayed after the roof a two-story building collapsed late Thursday.

Calexico's water filtration systems are "a total loss" and will take three to six months to rebuild, Ouzan said. A backup system supplies about 4 million gallons a day, but the city consumes up to 6 million gallons a day in summer.

In El Centro, population 40,000, about 200 families were displaced, dozens of buildings have declared off-limits and a major support beam at the city library was damaged, according to a report for the city council by City Manager Ruben Duran.

The quake is yet another economic blow to the farming region, which had an unemployment rate of 27.2 percent in February.